Wave sailing snap jibes vs tacking

[dllee]

Manuel, your vid is not valid because the board in the vid is a huge freerace type board, easy to tack.
Try tacking your 80 liter wave board like that.

[manuel]

You mean like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prdBMtFtDJY&feature=youtu.be&t=185
Look at his tracks after the move.
Sub-planing tacks ~ snab jibes but planing tacks gain so much ground, they don't compare. Otherwise, no one would do them in side-on conditions and especially during competition if they offered no gain!

[LeeD]

Pozo looks like a medium temperature Sylt, which looks like a frozen Mahalapu on Kuai.
Hard to compare tacks with PWA sailors, who are around 25, fit, in shape, and decent sailors.
Tack if you want, but my 75 liter wave boards support my jibes much better.

[30knotwind]

Tack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf0xUiK0Xqw
Here's a POV fast tack on a 90 liter, a sinker for me. If planing and powered board size is not too important. I find that keeping the head up is important, sometimes I look at the top of the mast to get my body upright for the move around the mast. Mantras help me improve success rate: for the tack I chant "head up, feet close (or foot, foot)" a few times as I head upwind. Mantras also work for other moves: they focus your attention on what is most important for you.


Snap jibe:
I discovered these as I practiced forward looping. When non-planing they can be done without losing much ground if you focus on rotating the board instead of turning/carving it. Get the mast hard forward and the clew hard up over the head. They are surprisingly quick. Focus on the board, not flipping the sail. Start with back hand way down the boom. Must remember to move front hand closer to mast when ready to flip.

[tajella]

[quote="30knotwind"]Tack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf0xUiK0Xqw
Here's a POV fast tack on a 90 liter, a sinker for me. If planing and powered board size is not too important. I find that keeping the head up is important, sometimes I look at the top of the mast to get my body upright for the move around the mast. Mantras help; for the tack I chant "head up, feet close" a few times as I head upwind.

Thanks 30knotwind. These are the kind of tips that really help me. I will be chanting your mantra next time I am out.

[coachg]

The OP indicated planing into the tack/slam jibe in his video. Given that choice a tack will be by far the best choice if you need to get up wind quickly as in a competition or crowded lineup. Those that can tack will catch more waves. If just freesailing than I think you would be fine with the snap jibe.
The biggest problem I see with people who have difficulty tacking small boards is going late on the transition. In this video you can see the difference between going early while the board has enough speed so the nose & board are stable when I go around vs. waiting until it comes to a stop where the nose is free to sink. The first board is 90 liter & the 2nd 80 liter. While 90 liters is not a complete sinker for me, it does a great impression of a German U-Boat on patrol when not moving. The other key ingredient in going early is that you can continue to sail on an upwind tack while sailing back winded. You can see in the last clip with the head cam how long I am actually back wind sailing. You can also see early transition & back wind sailing in Mauel's video of Pozo.

https://vimeo.com/143334911

[30knotwind]

[isobars]

Have you read the thread titled The Short Board Tack? Lots of information and opinions in those ten pages.

[fathomfathom]

Thanks for all the reply.
A few observations
-on the video from Pozo a number of sailors were heading upwind then do very short jibe off the wave face instead of tacking
-I tried that technique last time out and were quite happy with the results.
-tacking when done on that video does gain a lot more ground, although with the above technique, jibing also did gain ground (vs regular jibing off a swell which lose a lot of ground)
-tacking on short board (in my case on 69 and 85L board), I tried after reading the post to tack while planing and it does work well but I'm stuck at turning the board when backwinded. Something to work on and also the timing of when to initiate so I can end up on the right part of the wave as I change tack.

[manuel]

Nicely summarized!

Try timing your tack so that a piece of chop or a wave lifts your nose up. Then you can press down in front with confidence. As the wave goes by, the board will naturally point down as you sheet in and push the nose away with your front leg.